And right now, a punishing blizzard is hitting the country hard. Right through the heartland. Look at this right behind me this evening. This video comes to us from texas, where authorities are posting I iing it onfacebook as a warning. You can hear it underneath me here, just listen to it. Something to see and something to hear tonight. And 20 states now from the lone star state all the w up to michigan with storm watches and warnings this evening. So, we begin her abc meteorologist ginger zee in kansas, where there's a state of emergency tonight. Ginger? Reporter: David, for this part of the country, it is weather deja vu. Here it is, happening again, all the way from here back to texas. It's a textbook blizzard, smothering texas, oklahoma, kansas and missouri tonight. Look at this time lapse video, overnight amarillo, texas disappearing in snow. See what it's like so far. Here we go. Reporter: Amarillo had more than a foot and a half of snow, blown by gusts of up to 77 miles per hour. Huge three to five-foot drifts covering roads and highways. School and businesses shutdown. Texas has called in the national guard to rescue people stranded on the roads. The neighboring oklahoma, families trapped in their cars. Like bill thompson, his wife, daughter and two granddaughters, stranded on highway 83. They called for help. I don't know how many days or hours we're going to be here, because they can't get to us. Reporter: They were trapped for three and a half anxious hours. If you find yourself stuck in a car in a blizzard, remember -- keep your seat belt on, other drivers may slide into you if you're stuck. Crack the back window slightly. Often times the tail pipe gets covered by snow, which can cause deadly carbon monoxide fumes to get into the vehicle. Run the engine for 10 to 15 minutes every hour. Back in kansas, which has barely recovered from last week's epic snow, is now getting it again. We've had a nice winter so far. And now, boy, in the last two weeks here it's like, geez. Reporter: Tonight, the storm brings up to a foot just south of kansas city. Then, six inches or more around chicago by wednesday. So, let's talk timing of the storm. It will happen here tonight, from wichita to kansas city, or just south, some of the heaviest snoefs into early tuesday. Then, the storm moves to the north and east through illinois, parts of chicago really hit by wednesday. The east coast, from all of this, going to get mostly rain.

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